My husband makes these growling sounds, over and over for hours at a time, which is more frequent late afternoon as we approach dinner hour, and continues until he goes to bed (whether that's 10:30 pm or 3 am, doesn't matter).

He eats and eats and eats while multi-tasking on his computer as he growls and grunts, chokes, and clears his throat. This constant noise grates on my nerves and for his own safety, I worry about him inhaling his food into his lung and choking to death. We spoke with is neurologist and he saw a speech pathologist who told him not to multi-task and eat. They aren't aware of the vocalizations. He tried their recommendations of sitting quietly at the dining room table without distractions to eat, and it was successful. Practically no coughing or choking. This lasted about a week and he went back to his old way of eating behind his computer and choking again as he multi-tasks. I have given up on this as I am learning to choose my battles. He seems to be unaware of doing this, denying it but does try to stop it when I ask him to. He is quiet for 5 to 10 minutes and then it starts again. He almost always has an ipod or headset that he is listening to and viewing online and he seems to grunt and verbalize to the stimulation he is hearing. The behavior appears outwardly like those of Tourettes origin. He is often in what I call "hyper" mode when this happens, often wiggling about in his chair and the tone sounds like someone moaning, so it's taken a long time to get used to what sounds like pain (but he says, isn't pain). This is stressful to be around for long periods of time so I try to block it out with music or by going into the back end of the house, or outside in the yard to get away from it. I should mention he has a DBS.

He says when he was in high school he had another student tell him he was making these moaning sounds regularly in the classroom, so I don't know if this is the way he always has been, or if it is the Parkinsons and/or a medication issue. He's definately very, very auditory by nature, and at this point seems to lack an edit button, verbalizing whatever happens through his mind. He can say the most inappropriate and aggravating things. I said to him during one of the episodes today that he has been trying to pick a fight since 3 pm today (it was about 8 pm at this time) as he just keeps picking and picking, saying provocative things (he calls this "stirring things up"). It is soooo obnoxious and I am trying not to react but it's sooo difficult at times not to.

Seriously, if my husband is awake, everyone in the house will be awake. He says he feels really good when this is happening, so he stays up until 2, 3, 5 am working on his computer, grunting and growling, thumping and bumping. He says too much caffiene and/or sugar may be the cause. After 5 pm, I often wonder if he is over medicated. I do think alcohol accellerates the behaviors.

Is this Parkinsons or something else? If he feels good doing it, as he says he does, then what am I to do for my own peace of mind and rest? Your thoughts will be appreciated.

It is so hard, boy do I know. We don't have the growling sounds, but we do snore and moan in bed. I am always torn between being angry and then feeling guilty for feeling angry and at the same time feeling so bad for my husband because he has PD and cannot help so many of the things that are happening to him. It just sucks.

But, we have children, and for their sake I have to function. And for their sake we need as harmonious a house as possible. So what I do is get physically away from whatever is happening that I am having a difficult time coping with. I have been sleeping in my youngest child's bottom bunk now for awhile, just so I can get some sleep. Sometimes my husband will still wake me up making one of his night snacks, this actually happens most every night but I try to go back to sleep if I can. It is much better than trying to sleep in our bed or even our bedroom, as he usually bring his food there and eats it in there.

I can't seem to find a solution to the eating, though. This morning all but two slices of bread had been eaten overnight, and I could not make our kids' sandwiches. All but one of the fifteen slices of bacon I made yesterday for a quick breakfast this morning/week were gone, too. My son meekly asked me why there was only one slice of bacon and instead of making up some lie like I have been doing now for years, I just told him the truth and said that daddy ate them. I'm tired of covering up and perpetuating the lie that everything is OK in our family. I'm also tired of making meal plans that get shot to hell when the ingredients I need have either been eaten completely or eaten to the point that they are unusable. Last night was going to be nachos, but my husband ate almost all the whole and large pieces of chips the few hours since I brought them home. It is so maddening. I jokingly told him I'm going to get a lock on the refrigerator, but I'm seriously thinking about doing that now. He says he eats because he's bored and feels bad, which makes him feel worse, so he eats more. Or he won't eat much at all during the day but stuff himself after his last meds have been taken. Then he complains that he's fat and can't lose weight. I have a very hard time being sympathetic in this situation and have resorted lately to saying nothing. If I can physically leave the room, it is better so I don't say something I later regret.

I think getting away can be a real salvation, even if it's just another room. If you have a room in the house that can serve as a sanctuary, I would go there when you are feeling this way. If not, I would get headphones myself and wear them whenever the noise is irritating you, or he is trying to stir things up, as you say. I don't know that I would be able to put up with the deliberate stirring up of things, though, as if dealing with PD is not stressful enough on its own. I think I'd have to say something about that, since it is within his control and is very annoying to you (and NOT helpful to your relationship!). Good luck.

dear....The groaning, growling and moaning can be part of REM sleep disorder, so I have read....My guy does all of those...but also does them while awake...We know ourselves that if we are very tired and in pain we tend to moan, it is an involuntary function. You have to understand that those sounds come from receptors like those in crying babies. A baby cries whens it's hungry, in pain and so on....these are involuntary actions born in each one of us. As we grow we learn to change those crying sounds to verbalizations with words. Behaviors such as verbalization are learned and receptors to our brain "learn" to speak rather than cry. These involuntary receptors are "awakened" when there is conflicts in the central nervous system. The receptors with PD are off and cause these moaning,groaning verbalizations to reappear. The person usually is unaware that they are even doing it. The pain with PD can be severe enough for these receptors to kick off and cause the sounds. The banging and thumping around I guess can be annoying, but when you can't walk "normal" bumping and thumping go with the territory and even though my guy tries to be quiet, I can hear him walk around in the middle of the night. I think as older adults(mostly women), after our children have grown, and the house is empty for awhile, then full of noise our "mother reflex" kicks in and we hear things a lot louder than what they really appear to be. It is our natural response to get up when we hear a child cry or thump around...therefore we hear that noise and are alerted that something is going on..... We don't have children or anyone else living with us ..so ..for me it's not a big deal....I get my "needed" sleep and when I can, I might sneak in a nap here and there if I feel overtired....

Ok, at risk of some wondering if my medicine is working too well or not well enough, I'll weigh in on some of this thread. First the growls, grunts and clearing of throat. Sounds like dystonia to me or even dyskinesia. Could be disease caused or medication effect. This would explain why He can stop for a few to several minutes when asked. (We can sometimes through sheer willpower suppress a movement for a brief time but it is an exhausting task, which is why stopping for a long length of time doesn't happen much. The concentrating while eating also focuses attention to that task so much so that Our "normal" idiosyncrasies are suppressed. However this concentration also is tiring and I suspect makes meals less inviting and less looked forward to.) Make the Neurologist and Speech Pathologist aware of the vocalizations it is important They have this information a tweek in His Med's might be in order.

Now My goofy side wants a turn. As for REM sleep disorder, sleep apnea and other? It seems that this is the current buzzword in the medical field. The current oh we better test for this! Acid reflux used to be at the top and with more ads on TV lately it might be making a comeback. Snoring, grunting and grumbling in one's sleep? Well I think it's just natural folks, everyone does it to some extent or another. Think of it as evolution. When Man/Woman kind came down out of the trees somewhere, somehow something had to evolve or else we wouldn't be here. Think about it now our ancestors were laying around on the ground for hours. All those predatory animals wandering around just walking up and eating them. Peek through the bushes to the past, a lion sneaks up toward a prone form......Snixxxx! Grunt! Grunt! Snoorghhh! The lion leaps back...Whoa! That thing just snarled at me it's alert and awake! Well You get the idea.

I don't see any medical expert touting cutting off our little toes or pinky fingers because we don't really need them or use them anymore! But if you snore and make noise in your sleep well buddy you've got a real medical problem. In case you're wondering I snore well and loud (it keeps the monsters hiding in the closets and under the bed away!) I hope the sleep part of this post gives a chuckle or two and a smile to easy some worry with this damn disease. We should grab a smile whenever we can before bed and remember if any monsters invade your sleep let loose a good snore to scare them away! Take care, best of luck and hang in there.

As for your "goofy side AL...couldn't agree with you more... Ever since we saw our first neuro years ago..every one of them has suggested the Sleep Apnea with the REM....we are giving in this time to get it over with....he is having the sleep study done....here is my thing though... the man doesn't sleep more than a few hours at a time... how can they even expect to get anything from that??????

I don't know all that it involves but he is up and down and up and down all night long..walks around, can't get comfortable..he's gonna be hooked up to wires and cause him more stress than if he were at home....this will not, in my opinion, solve anything....It's like ...well... he has sleep apnea so now his PD is cured???? no way... will connecting him up to a breathing machine really get him more sleep????Will he get to the bathroom any faster when he gets that sudden urge... I think not....Will the groaning and moaning stop...he'll still be in pain... he still will not be able to get comfortable, especially with an irritating thing over his face....I think..like you... that this is the newest acid reflux... just as everyone has fybromialgia because they are in pain.. I know Fybromialgia exists but it is over diagnosed... too many people with depression are being diagnosed with it and suffering the consequences.... ok I'm done ranting ...i think.....

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. Day by day, these suggestions are easing my stress in living around these issues and I appreciate you more than you will know. To clarify, the growls and grunts are during waking hours, not while sleeping, so I don't see the connection with sleep apnea. I will suggest the vocalizations be discussed at the next neuro appointment so the doctor can advise whether adjusting meds is appropriate for him. Thanks again.

Discovered today that my husband is taking Nuvigil, and it winds him up like a clock. Asked him to try a half of a tablet to see if it gives him the lift he seeks without putting him into hyper drive. He was prescribed this in Novemenber and has been taking it for the past 2 months.